So many kindergarten skills involve fine motor…..and fine motor can be so tricky to develop and strengthen. It involves more than cutting with scissors or holding a pencil properly. I try to sprinkle fine motor activities into our everyday learning as much as I can. We use playdough. tweezers, stickers, hole punches, and pokey pins as much as possible to strengthen the littlest muscles!

Students working on a pokey pin activity.

 

Another GREAT fine motor activity is Perler beading. This group of kindergarteners LOVES making Perler bead creations. Students have the option of using their fingers or a small pair of tweezers to place the beads. Creating with Perler beads also helps build hand-eye coordination and fosters creativity.

We also spend quite a bit of our Friday Fun time sewing! So far this year, we have sewn pumpkins and coasters. Our first project was a minky fabric pumpkin. Students used a running stitch to sew around a circle of fabric we had prepared for them. I put a series of black dots circling the fabric so the students knew where to place the needle next. Look how cute these turned out!

Today, students sewed festive pumpkin coasters. This was a multi-step sewing project, and I was very impressed with the students’ enthusiasm and focus on completing the project.

The kindergarteners are so excited about sewing that they asked if I could include it as a Choice Time choice. Time to plan some new projects!